Remote Control: /clear command does not work from remote device

Status Open

Maintainer reply None cached

Activity 3 comments · opened May 30, 2026

Summary

When using Claude Code Remote Control (via claude.ai/code), sending /clear from the remote device has no effect. The command appears to be treated as plain text rather than a CLI command, so the session context is not cleared.

Expected behavior

/clear sent from a remote-control device should clear the session context, the same as running it locally in the terminal.

Actual behavior

Nothing happens. The message is either ignored or treated as a user text message rather than a CLI command.

Steps to reproduce

Enable Remote Control (/remote-control or remoteControlAtStartup: true in settings)
Connect from a remote device via claude.ai/code
Send /clear from the remote device
Observe: session context is not cleared

Workarounds

Run /clear locally in the terminal
Start a new session from the remote device

Use case

When working from a mobile or secondary device via Remote Control, there is currently no way to reset the conversation context without switching to the local machine. Supporting /clear remotely would make Remote Control sessions more self-sufficient.

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3 Comments

GDemiurg · 3 months ago

A workaround I'm using right now is having remote-control on by default, and making claude open another terminal with an instance of itself. Works as a band-aid fix but definetly not for everyone, just dropping it here in case someone is wondering what do to to circumvent this.

lowebackstrom · 2 months ago

Confirming on latest (CLI + iOS app). Also reproduces from the iOS mobile app, not just claude.ai/code — /clear arrives in the terminal as a literal message (<system-reminder> + /clear) and doesn't execute. Repros in a brand-new session, so it's not session-state related. Same for /compact. Workaround that works: run /clear in the local terminal.

ChunmiaoYu · 2 months ago

Confirming this on a fresh setup — and it looks like a regression.

Environment:

Local/primary client: Claude Code CLI v2.1.177 on Windows (VSCode extension)
Remote: Claude mobile app (Remote Control), updated to latest

Remote /clear USED to work for me and recently stopped. Updating the mobile app did NOT fix it. When I send /clear from the phone it arrives as a plain-text prompt to the model and does not clear context (the local session still has full history; context usage is unchanged).

Additional detail not yet in this thread: after the app update, the mobile remote slash-command picker only offers /diff, /export, /permissions, /plan — /clear, /compact, /context, /usage are all missing from the picker. The current remote-control docs (v2.1.166+) still claim /clear//compact//context//usage "work from mobile and web", so the live behavior contradicts the docs.

Local /clear typed directly in the terminal/IDE still works fine — the breakage is specific to the remote channel.